Mass Effect 2: N7: Abandoned Mine Tips For Insanity Difficulty

Sometime ago I gave tips for the mission from Mass Effect 2: N7 Abandoned Mine. That was on the normal difficulty setting. Now let's get through the mission when it's set on the Insanity difficulty level. First, read my general tips to play on the Insanity difficulty setting.

1. The Enemy. All husks, all the time. The further you move into the mine the more Abominations you face. These guys are husks but will blow up in your face. And to make matters more interesting, all the husks on the Insanity difficulty level have armor.

2. Your weapons, armor and powers, please.

a. Weapons. I play as a soldier. So my assault rifle is the Revenant. It packs more punch than the other assault rifles. Now shotguns sound good but if you have to take one out when surrounded by a bunch of husks, you are a good candidate for the grave. My heavy weapon is the flamethrower aka M-451 Firestorm. You get this from Zaeed's mission. It burns through armor. You can also use the Collector Particle Beam if you don't have the Firestorm.

b. Armor. I use the Kestrel armor which comes with the DLC Aegis Pack.

c. Power. My loyalty bonus power is Slam. Evolved Slam on a husk without armor usually kills it or pretty much weakens it to the point of death.

3. Squad. While experimenting I come across this effective combination. First, Samara is good for this mission. She uses an assault weapon. Second, her biotic powers work on husks with armor or without. Reave works against a husk's armor. When evolved to Heavy Reave, it will rip down the armor completely or at least come close to taking it all down. Her Throw power when evolved to Throw Field can wipe out a group of unarmored husks. Second, pick Zaeed. He also uses an assault rifle. Plus he has the Inferno Grenade. It has a terrific splash damage that will hurt nearby enemies along with the primary target. If you've picked up the Geth Pulse rifle, you can now arm your squad with this weapon. It's a little beter than the other rifles with the exception of the Revenant machine gun.

4. Walkthrough on Insanity. You'll get this mission by buying the star chart for Minos Wasteland from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Once you're in the cluster, head over to the Fortis System. The planet you'll need to head to is Aequitas. Your mission is to investigate why the mine went silent. By the way, I played this way after the Suicide mission so my Shepard was pretty strong.

You land. Before you head into the mine, go left. Scan the body and get credits. Okay enter the mine immediately you get jumped by husks. Use your squad's power, your Slam and give them a healthy dose of lead. Move through the mine but don't forgot to look to the sides of walls for minerals. You come to a clearing where there are a couple of explosive containers. Husks come down from the ceiling. An Abomination joins them. Blow up the containers to damage them. If the Abomination is still alive, put him down first. Finish them off. Get the minerals. By the way, save your Medi-gel for reasons which I will discuss below.

You come to a cliff with a ramp. Husks jump you, along with an Abomination. Now, you can kill an Abomination close to other husks to hurt them with his explosion. Collect the minerals and go up the cliff. Hack the locker on the table for credits. By the way, during this section if you need to fall back you can. Head down a hill. Get the minerals to the side. Okay, you come to a circular room with a console and a Medi-gel dispenser. More husks jump you, finish this group off. Fall back if you have to, but don't move forward until you finish this group off. When they're dust, save your game. Then read the logs and grab the Medi-gel. If you don't move too far ahead, you may be able to save after the logs. And just in front of you is a thermal clip on a table. It will replenish itself, during the upcoming battle.

DOING THIS THE HARD WAY IS THE MOST FUN. You heard me. We're going to wipe out all the husks even though it's the hardest way to complete the mission. I mean you could destroy the alien husk making device and end the mission quickly but you would lose out on hacking the last locker and the fun of wiping out a ton of husks.

Okay, the room branches off to two paths. Left and right. Both paths lead to another chamber. Beyond that chamber is a hall with the locker and more Medi-gel. There is a room beyond that which has the alien device. Go right young man, and move up the ramp to an overlook. There is a ramp which leads down to the chamber. EDI tells you about the alien device. Now here come the husks.

The advantage about going right is that you have the high ground. And the husks won't flank you right away. They will run up the ramp. Feed them lead. And when they bunch up, use Zaeed's Inferno Grenade. Wow. That blast damages a bunch of them. Samara can use her Reave to rip down the armor of any husks that are too close. Use Slam to kill any husks without armor. And don't be afraid to use the Inferno Grenade on husks on top of you. It does very little damage, if any to you but is marvelous against husks. Must be smart bomb technology.

Pause and look around. You should bring up the squad power wheel. The game pauses and you can look around. See if there any husks on top of you or behind you. This pausing will work even if your squad is "dead."

Save your Medi-gel. If you used your Medi-gel down to two from the last mission, that's what you get when you start this mission. Yeah, it makes no sense. I mean shouldn't you be able to replenish Medi-gel aboard the Normandy? So, don't use it on this mission and save them for the next. Trust me you can easily complete this mission without using any Medi-gel.

MOVE AND RUN. Eventually you will get overrun. Move away from the husks and run down the ramp from which you came. Note that the paths form a circle. So run around in circles. And take out your Firestorm. If your squad gets killed, don't panic. And don't revive them. You can handle this on your own. But keep running around this chamber's circle, i.e. down the ramp, to the left then up the ramp. Avoid falling back out of these last chambers to the cliff with the locker on the table. That causes more husks to regenerate to that area even though by doing so will revive your squad. Just remember you can win this mission by running around in this last chamber. Also, note that killing husks causes them to drop thermal clips.

Burn and Slam. Follow this rhythm. When you see a husk, burn down its armor with the Firestorm. Then immediately Slam it. Husk goes down. Keep moving so the husks don't surround you and beat you to death. Try to move to the high ground again. Pause to see where the husks are. When you are about to be flanked, move. There are power cells on the table on the high ground and in the left path next to the hole in the wall. But because the husks keep dropping thermal clips when killed, I found that out that I had ample ammo for all my weapons. Just remember to keep moving if you have to.

After what seems like a hundred husks, you eventually eliminate them all. Your squad wakes up and you can save your game. Okay, go to the locker in the hall. Hack it and get the credits. Pick up the Medi-gel. Here's where you have to be careful. According to Mass Effect Wiki, you could lose credits, minerals and experience if you stand next to the bombs connected to the alien device when you destroy them. So take out your sniper rifle, or assault rifle or use a biotic power to detonate them from a distance. Watch cool cutscene where falling debris crush some more husks. The end.